Nexus
by pikapikatchu
Summary: A new case seems to be related to the terrorist the CSIs are looking for. Greg and Nick try to deal with everything that's happened in the last months, but maybe their way of coping is not the right way. Follow up on "The Game Is On"
1. Chapter 1

This story follows up on my other stories. Please read the other two before you start reading this one or else you might be a little confused what's going on :) thanks

You can find it at my profile or here: 

first story: _"A day at the video rental store"_

**.net/s/6502149/1/A_day_at_the_video_rental_store **

second story:_ "An eye for an eye"_

**.net/s/6506034/1/An_Eye_For_An_Eye **

third story: _"Boom"_

**.net/s/6516243/1/Boom**

fourth story: _"The game is on"_

**.net/s/6773108/1/The_Game_Is_On**

(just put the fanfiction-url in front of the urls above and you're good to go. I can't publish it as a real link, I'm sorry!)

* * *

Officer Turner was shot down while coming back from the supermarket. They had no prove yet, but the CSIs were sure being a cop is what killed him. They were sure the guy who attacked Greg was the one who shot the officer. They just had to find evidence linking the man to the murder.

"Time of death, David?" Ray asked, taking photos of the body.

"Approximately three hours ago," David said, getting the thermometer out of the body.

"That's quite some time for a place like this. Didn't anyone hear or find the body earlier?"

"Well this is a part of town where nobody ever saw or heard anything," David said, looking at a gang banger Brass was talking to.

"Are you alright, Jim?" Catherine walked up to him.

"Yeah I'm fine... I knew him quite well, that's all..." he said, keeping his eyes on the body.

"I could call Vartann or Vega to work on the case instead of you." She had a soft smile on her face.

"No, I can handle it. Besides, they're both busy with their cases."

"They both have cases? Who's working with them?" Catherine was surprised because the only CSIs that were supposed to go out in the field tonight were here working on the case.

Brass gave her a surprised look. "Vega is still working on a case with someone from swing shift and Greg's with Vartann. I thought you knew about Greg working the case with him?"

"No, Jim, I didn't! I told him to stay at the lab!" Catherine was furious. Not only was she still worried about Greg, she was also angry with him not obeying her order.

"Well he said you were okay with it and we needed a CSI, so..." Brass wasn't sure it was such a big deal. He didn't tell her, but he thought she was overreacting.

Catherine sighed. "Where is the crime scene?"

"Catherine, we need every man we can at this scene..." Brass tried to calm her down.

"Don't. It's not your call, where is he now?"

"Brass, Catherine!" Nick called from a few feet away, slowly running up to them. "Take a look at that." He held an evidence bag in his hand.

"Oh my god, is that what I think it is?" Catherine said in disgust.

Nick nodded. "A finger. It was lying under our victim, but it's not his."

Greg was arriving at the crime scene. Doc Robbins was already waiting for him. "Hey Doc."

"Greg, I thought you were back in the lab for the next days?"

"Yeah well, we're short handed at the moment so I volunteered." Giving Doc Robbins a look that made him think that Catherine didn't know about this, he knelt down to take a look at the body. It was a young female, in her early 20ies, hands tied behind her back with a rope wrapped around her neck. Her face was beat up beyond recognition. The way she was dressed led both Doc Robbins and Greg to believe she might be a prostitute.

"Does she have an I.D. on her?" Greg took photos of her.

"No. She doesn't have a wallet on her, no cell phone. Only some cash, condoms and make up in her purse."

"Cash... Condoms. The dress, the shoes... I think she might be a prostitute. Maybe we have her fingerprints in the system and can identify her."

"I think it will be not that easy..." Doc Robbins said, slowly turning the body around to reveal her hands. "She has no fingers."

On his way back from the lab, Greg received a phone call on his new cell phone.

"This is Greg."

"_Greg, where the hell are you?"_ Catherine said, almost screaming at him.

"I'm driving back to the lab now. I know I was supposed to stay in the lab, but there was no one else to go! What was I supposed to do?"

"_Well you could've at least asked me, Greg!"_

"I know, and I'm sorry. Next time I'll ask you. But I figured you'd be okay with it."

"_Well maybe I would've if you asked me, but now I'm just angry..."_

Greg had to smile when Catherine said that. "Look, I didn't mean to be disrespectful. Please accept my apologies, okay?"

Greg knew Catherine couldn't resist his cute attempts to make it up to her. _"Fine... Just come back to the lab."_

Greg was processing the rope that was wrapped around the dead body. He was trying to find anything, some fibers, hairs or some DNA from the person who wrapped it around her neck.

"There you are..." Catherine walked in, still looking a bit angry.

"Hey Catherine..." he said with a rather awkward smile.

"I hope this was at least worth it. Tell me about the case."

"Well, our Jane Doe was found in a back alley near the strip. I'm waiting for the autopsy report to confirm it, but it looks like she was strangled with this rope. Judging from her looks and the inside of her purse I believe she was a prostitute."

"And you think a John killed her?"

"Well I have yet to find any evidence to back my theory up, but I'm thinking it could be her pimp..."

"Why do you think that?"

Greg handed some pictures he took over to Catherine. "Because her fingers were chopped off. I'm thinking the pimp knew she was in the system and tried to get rid of any evidence linking her to him. Like her identity."

Catherine looked surprised at the pictures.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing... I... it might be a really weird coincidence... But we found a finger at our crime scene that didn't belong to our dead body..." She didn't keep her eyes off the pictures when she noticed something. "Red nail polish on her feet... Our finger had red nail polish, too. And it was applied quite sloppy."

Greg stared at her. "Doc Robbins noticed that the nail polish on her toes was applied sloppy, too, as if she was in a hurry when she did it..."

"Our cases may be linked together..." Catherine sighed. "You do know that the case I'm working on probably involves the guy that attacked you?"

"No, Catherine, you can't pull me off that case, too!"

"It's the same case, Greg! You're involved!"

"But... Okay, we don't know that for sure yet. Let me keep on working on it until we're 100% sure that these two cases are involved AND that this guy is involved!"

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Okay.. We don't know anything yet officially. But the second we do know I expect you to step away from the case."

Nick walked into the DNA lab. He found Julian on one of the microscopes and Greg nervously waiting for something. "Hey guys. Do we know yet if the finger belongs to your victim, Greg?"

Greg shook his head. "Julian's working on it..." he said impatient, noticing the look Julian gave him.

"Well... I know you want to work on this case, so I hope the DNA won't match..." Nick said, handing Greg a report.

"Why?" He took a look at it.

"The woman the finger belongs to is Officer Claudia Richards... There's no way this is a coincidence."

Greg looked shocked at Nick. "But my victim... I... She was a prostitute!"

"Greg, we don't know that. Maybe this guy wanted us to believe she was, dressing her up like that. Is this your victim?" He handed him a picture of Officer Richards.

"I don't know..." He put the picture down. "She was beat up, her face was bruised badly. It could be her, but the hair color doesn't match. The Jane Doe was brunette, officer Richards was a blond."

"Did Doc Robbins already determine whether the fingers were chopped off postmortem?" Nick asked.

"Yeah... Five fingers postmortem, five when she was still alive..." the painful look Greg now had on his face made Nick worry about him again. "How about your finger?"

"Postmortem... But we're not sure which hand it came from."

"And it's not like left hand, perimortem, right hand postmortem on our victim... We'll have to wait for Julian to confirm the DNA-match."

Julian rolled his eyes. "I'm working as fast as I can, it's ready in a minute."

"You said that half an hour ago..." Greg responded, giving him an annoyed look.

"Well in that case it can't take too long anymore, right?" He walked out the room for a few minutes.

"What the hell? Where's he going?" Greg said aggressively. He was waiting for this important DNA result and Julian was obviously taking another coffee break. "I'm so sick of this guy."

"You didn't seem to care too much about that before." Nick said, sitting down next to Greg.

"So? It takes a while to annoy me that much, I guess..." he replied, trying to avoid the conversation Nick was trying to get at.

"Come on, Greg, ever since, you know, all that happened, you're having a shorter fuse. And I'm not the only one to notice it."

"And that surprises you? Julian's a jerk. He's working on very important evidence and acts like it's not a big deal to take forever to process it!"

"Alright, calm down... I understand you're annoyed by him, but you never acted up like this before. You can't let your emotions get the best of you."

"Nick, I'm only stressed out. You can't really blame me for being mean to Julian, it's not like he's ever been nice to me." Greg got up and walked up to the printer, waiting for the result.

"Yeah I know, but still... You normally have been nicer to him. And you've been stressed out before. Are you still talking to the department shrink?"

Greg rolled his eyes. "Yes... And he told me to let my feelings out when I need to."

"Sure, but you can't let them out on anyone, let alone your colleagues! Just try not to lose your temper that quick, alright?"

The printer finally printed out the results. As Greg picked the paper up, Julian went back in.

"Hey, Sanders, I already told you. It's my lab now, stay away from the results until I give them to you!" He grabbed the paper out of Greg's hand.

"Hey, back off!" Nick was now facing Julian, taking the paper out of his hand. "You shouldn't worry about him. You should worry about losing your job for being too slow and giving everyone an attitude."

Julian stared at Nick for a while, looked at Greg and just went out the lab.

"What the hell, Nick? I can deal with him myself!" Greg stormed off angry.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Hey, what about the DNA results?"


	2. Chapter 2

Greg was sitting in the locker room by his own, trying to calm down. He didn't mean to lash out on Nick like that, he knew he only wanted to help. If he would've done that before everything has happened, Greg wouldn't have mind. But now he already felt weak and victimized. Being protected by Nick like that didn't really help him feel any stronger.

"Hey Greg." Sara was leaning against the door frame. "What was that all about?"

"Did Nick tell you?" he said, looking up to her.

"No... Actually... I could hear it. I was in trace lab."She smiled at him. "What's going on with you and Nick?"

Greg gave her a sad smile. "Nothing. He just... stood up for me when Julian was being a jerk."

"Wow, what an ass." she replied sarcastically.

"I already feel bad, Sara, I don't need your help." he joked.

"Come on Greg, what's this all about? Why did you react that way when you know he was only trying to help you?" She sat down next to him on the bench.

"I don't know... I just freaked out..." He had a sad look on his face. "It made me feel weak, I guess..."

Sara touched his hand. "It's not a nice feeling, I know... But it's not Nick's fault you're feeling that way, don't let your anger, fear and sadness out on him..." She patted his hand and stood up. "You don't want be weak, then don't. Just be strong." She smiled at him and walked away, passing Catherine on her way out.

"There you are." Catherine said. "I've been looking for you. Are you okay?"

Greg nodded, not looking up to her. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Well... I wanted to see if you're alright, but since we already cleared that..." she said in a rather sarcastic tone. "The DNA results are ready... The finger we found belongs to your victim... I'm sorry, you can't work this case anymore."

"I know... I've already seen the results. But if we get a new case, can I work on it, then?"

Surprised by his mellow voice, she just nodded. "Sure. And you're really okay?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm just disappointed. I really wanted to work on the case, you know..."

"Catherine..." Nick walked in on them, briefly looking at Greg. "I have some good news and some bad news..."

"Good news first, Nicky."

"Okay... Well, the DNA Greg found on the rope is not from the victim or anyone else from our ongoing cases. We got no hit in CODIS, either. I'm thinking it might be from our guy."

"That's some bad good news, Nick. I don't even want to imagine what the bad news is..." Catherine said, almost laughing.

Nick had a very serious face and kept looking at Greg. "Maybe we should talk outside?"

"What is it you can't say in front of me, Nick?" Greg wasn't sure if he was supposed to be concerned or annoyed by it, so he was just confused.

"Alright..." Nick pulled some pictures out of a folder. "These were e-mailed to me... From Greg's account."

The pictures showed Greg at the crime scene he just came back from a few hours ago.

Catherine and Nick both looked at Greg.

The pity in their faces made him angry, he didn't want to be the victim anymore. "Don't look at me like that. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I know what it's like being stalked and I didn't..." Nick tried to talk to Greg when he cut him off.

"It's nothing like that, Nick. You had a guy living in your apartment for months. This guy is just taking pictures..."

"And getting in your apartment to beat you up and setting mine on fire! Don't play it down, Greg!"

"I'm not playing it down." He laughed, trying to convince them that he didn't really care. "I just won't let this guy take control over my life."

"Aren't you freaked out that he can send e-mails from your account?" Catherine asked confused.

"He's got my phone, I check my mails from it sometimes and it saves my password. Mystery solved." He left the room, not caring to hear what else Catherine and Nick had to say to him. The two just stared at each other, not believing what just happened. Greg never behaved like that before and they got really worried.#

* * *

"Ray, are you busy right now?" Greg was walking up to Ray who was just processing evidence from the case Greg was working on before he got pulled from it.

Ray looked up to Greg, looked down at the evidence again and walked up to him. "You know I can't discuss this case with you, you're not even supposed to be in here..." Right then, Ray noticed that Greg had been crying.

"I don't want to talk about the case..." he said, with tears still choking up his words.

"Alright... Let's go somewhere where we're alone, then, okay?"

* * *

Ray led Greg into the break room. "Do you want a coffee... or tea?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you." He softly smiled at Ray, brushing away the tears on his face.

"I hear that from you quite often nowadays. But you never look fine when you say it." Ray sat down beside him.

"Yeah I know... But I don't want anyone to worry about me."

"And why is that? If it happened to anyone of us, you'd be worried, wouldn't you?"

Greg stared at Ray's cup of tea. "Of course... I just... I don't know why I..."

"Are you ashamed of what happened? That it happened to you?"

This caused Greg to quickly look up to Ray. "Of course not! Well... Should it?" He had an insecure smile on his face.

"See, if you really believed you had nothing to be ashamed of, you wouldn't even ask me that." Ray smiled at Greg. "But you shouldn't. It's not your fault, and your brain knows that."

"Then how come I feel so guilty?" He looked down at the cup again. "I just had a fight with Catherine and Nick because they think I should worry more about the fact that this guy is stalking me now." He laughed humorlessly. "Ain't that sad and stupid? The moment I walked out on them I felt bad, wanted to go back and apologize. I just couldn't."

"Everyone here understands what you're going through. Or at least they can try to imagine."

Greg looked back at Ray. He really did feel ashamed. Ashamed that he couldn't fight the guy at the video store off, ashamed that he was feeling uncomfortable being physically close to any man after it and ashamed that the attack at his home brought all this feelings back up. "I just want it to stop. I don't want to feel like that anymore..."

"How?" Ray leaned closer to Greg. "How do you feel right now?"

"Guilty. Angry. Confused. Vulnerable... Scared. I felt like this a few years ago, when I got... beat up... And now... It's even worse than it was back then."

"You just need to give yourself more time. It doesn't matter if you need weeks, months or even years to recover from this, but you will someday. And each day is getting better. Just have a little patience." Ray sipped from his tea.

Greg leaned back as he sighed. "Right now, with this guy still being out there, it's getting worse each day... I try not to let my life be affected by this, but how can I forget there's a psycho out there looking for me?"

Ray didn't really know an answer to that question. He tried to imagine what it would be like and only thinking about it felt horrible. "I don't know... But we're trying everything we can to find him. And I'm not sure he wants to kill you... He had the chance but didn't. He wants to play with you. With all of us."

Greg nodded. "And how do I get the others off my back?"

"You don't. We all care about you and we all want to help you get through this. If you need some space we'll give it to you but we won't leave you alone with this." Ray smiled at Greg, watching him stand up from his chair.

Greg smiled back and whispered a "Thank you", almost too quiet for Ray to hear.


	3. Chapter 3

Greg walked into Catherine's office, much to her surprise. She thought he would try to avoid her for the next few hours, like he usually did after having a fight with someone.

Greg was even more surprised to see Nick already sitting in her office when he came in. He wanted to talk to him later, but figured it made things easier with both of them here. "Hey guys... I wanted to apologize for the way I reacted earlier..."

"It's okay, Greg, you don't need to apologize." Catherine had a soft smile on her face.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Nick responded, looking up from some papers he was reading and quickly looking down at them again.

Greg knew that if all that traumatic experiences didn't happen before, they would be angry with him. For a second he became annoyed by this but then he realized he wouldn't have reacted that way if it all didn't happen. Greg just smiled at them, thanked them for their understanding and reached for the doorknob.

"Wait." Catherine was holding out a piece of paper to him. "You have a new case. A robbery. It's save to say our suspect has nothing to do with it."

* * *

Nick and Sara were sitting in the break room, waiting for Catherine and Ray to meet them.

"What is taking them so long?" Nick asked impatient.

"Relax. They're probably still waiting for some DNA evidence to be processed by Julian." Sara was reading the newspaper, not looking up to him as she said that.

"Isn't that killing you, too? We're sitting and waiting for our suspect to strike again because we have nothing to catch him."

She looked up from her newspaper. "Of course it does. But there's nothing we can do at the moment. I keep hoping this guy just lets it go and never does anything bad ever again, but I know it's not gonna happen. So I hope he won't hurt anyone I care about..."

Catherine and Ray stormed in with deeply shocked faces.

"Oh god, what happened?" Sara said, afraid that all her hoping didn't help.

"Our victim, officer Richards... She was shot by your gun, Nick."

Nick froze. He didn't even think about his gun when his living room was set on fire. They all knew their suspect has been in his apartment, but no one thought about the gun he keeps in a side table in the living room.

"How come you didn't know it was stolen?" Ray asked Nick puzzled.

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking about it. I was more concerned about Greg. I forgot I even had it!"

Catherine sighed. "I have to pull you off the case, too, Nicky."

Nick rolled his eyes. "I know..." He walked out of the break room rubbing his neck.

* * *

Greg was taking fingerprints off a register in a deli. The robbery case he was assigned to seemed to be quite simple. According to the shop owner, three guys threatened him and two customers with guns and demanded the money in the register. When the shop owner refused to give it to them, they pistol-whipped him and took the money themselves. With them leaving their fingerprints on the register Greg had a good chance of getting them.

Greg had been in the deli for two hours when Nick entered the shop.

"Nick, what are you doing here?" Surprised about him not working on the other case, Greg noticed Nick's face impression. He didn't really know what to think of it. Was it anger, sadness or was he just tired? Was it all together or nothing of it?

"I have some time on my hands and figured you could use some help." Trying to smile at Greg, the corners of Nick's mouth didn't move up much.

"I thought you guys are all busy with the case?" Making the surprise obvious in his voice, Greg continued taking fingerprints.

"Well, I'm not part of this investigation anymore." Nick put his evidence kit down, walking closer to Greg. "You found some fingerprints?"

"What do you mean, you're not part of it anymore? Why? What happened?"

Nick looked down for a moment. "Well... The case we were working on, Officer Richards? My gun was used to kill her..."

Greg stared at Nick in disbelieve. "...What?"

"He must've taken it when he started the fire. Are you gonna be alright?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah, sure." Smiling at Nick, he continued to take the fingerprints.

* * *

Brass, Ray and Catherine were out in Henderson. They had a warrant to search a house. Nick's gun was found near that house by a man walking his dog who called the police. The gun had blood spatter and a fingerprint on it, which came back to a Joel Hendriks. His fingerprints were in the system for several drug-related arrests, the last one being only a few months ago.

Brass knocked on the door. "Mr. Hendriks, LVPD, open up!"

After waiting a minute for Hendriks to open, which didn't happen, Brass gave the sign for the police officers to storm the house. Catherine and Ray waited outside for a clear sign.

After receiving the sign, the two entered to find a dead body lying on the couch.

"Well that's not what I expected. Hopefully this means a happy ending," Brass noted sarcastically, pulling out his cell phone to call the coroner.

Catherine stared at the body.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked.

"I don't know... Just look at the guy. He looks like a junkie, his rap sheet confirms it and he doesn't really look like an evil mastermind, don't you think?" She pointed her flash light at his gunshot wound in the head.

Ray took a look around the house. He didn't find anything suggesting that Hendriks had anything to do with the attacks at the police, either. But maybe, he thought, he was just good at hiding that stuff. Or he got rid of it before he died. After all, it looked like he committed suicide.


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine and Ray were standing in the autopsy room, waiting for Doc Robbins to confirm the suicide-theory.

"Okay..." Doc Robbins walked in, placing himself to Joel Hendrik's left. "Everything's suggesting suicide."

"But you can't confirm it?" Catherine asked in surprise.

"It's what I'll write on my report – suicide. But with everything that's happened the last weeks I wouldn't be surprised if someone was really good at making a murder look like suicide."

"You don't believe this is our suspect, Doc?" Ray asked, looking down at the body.

Doc Robbins held the left arm of Mr. Hendriks up. "You see these needle marks? He was a heavy heroin abuser. He even had heroin in his blood. That's not the only thing he was taking, though."

"So?" Catherine wasn't sure where he was getting at.

"It's hard to believe an addict like him would be able to plan attacks on the police the way our guy does, don't you think? I know it's not my job to think about things like that, but you know the way addicts don't think about anything else but how to get their next fix. I don't think he was able to think clear enough for planning these attacks."

Catherine sighed. "You're probably right... But where does he fit in?"

"Well, like he said, addicts only think about how to get their drugs. Maybe our suspect gave him drugs for the murder?" Ray looked at the files he was holding in his hands. "The murder weapon was found near the house, that's not a coincidence. Hendriks either made a bad job at hiding the gun or he wasn't the one who put it there..."

Catherine nodded appreciative to Doc Robbins and walked out of the room, followed by Ray. "So you're suggesting our suspect was at the murder scene after Hendriks committed suicide?"

"Or maybe when he died. I won't rule out murder. Doc Robbins doesn't have a choice, Catherine, but we do. We have to take this possibility into account."

"Alright. Try to find anything to back up your theory. I'm gonna pay Julian a visit."

* * *

Nick and Greg were walking into the lab to find Mandy being done with processing the fingerprints they collected. She was just getting ready with her report when the two entered, both smiling at her.

"What do you have for us, Mandy?" Greg said with a big smile on his face that irritated Nick. Was he that happy to work on a case again or was he just getting better at hiding his feelings?

"Well, I think I may have some good news. But they might also be bad news..."

Nick wrinkled his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"Well... I got matches on the prints you gave me. Most of them are from a Kenny Smith, he's in the system for, you'd never guess, robbery!" She handed them the report.

"He fits the prescription the shop owner gave us. And what's the bad news?" Nick said, looking a bit confused to Greg who was looking just as confused as he did.

"Well..." She sighed. "One print from the counter got me a match with one of our ongoing cases..." She cleared her throat.

Greg and Nick both could see how hard it was for Mandy to tell them, which only made them more curious about WHAT it was she needed to say.

"It's a print you got off the counter. It's a match to a fingerprint Ray found at the drug addict's house..." Mandy said, handing them her report.

Greg and Nick just looked at each other, both rolling their eyes. "This can't be true!" Nick shouted angrily. "Is there ANY case this lab is working on right now that doesn't involve this damn case?"

Nick's emotional reaction made Mandy wince for a moment. She expected them both to be upset about it, but she never saw so much anger in his face.

"Nick, calm down..." Greg said, gently touching Nick's arm to try and soothe him.

"We'll be taken off this case, too!" Without realizing it, Nick shoved back Greg's hand, causing him to wince, too.

Greg's face was filled with fear as he stared at Nick.

Right after realizing what he just did, Nick calmed down. "Greg, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

Without saying a word, Greg stormed out the room, leaving Nick and Mandy standing in the lab with an astonished look on their faces.

* * *

"Julian, please tell me you're done with our DNA evidence," Catherine said with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Of course," Julian replied, acting like there was no need to expect he wasn't done yet. He handed her the report and went on with his coffee break.

"Okay, let's take a look..." She opened the report, holding it so that Ray was able to read it, too. "Every DNA trace in that house we collected belongs to Hendriks..."

"Great. Now THAT makes it easier." Ray said sarcastically but with a decent smile on his face.

"Yeah well at least we now know our suspect didn't leave any DNA in this house. Maybe this means he wasn't even in there."

"It doesn't prove it, though. It's still possible," Ray said, slowly turning his head from Catherine to Nick who was just walking into the lab.

"Catherine, our cases are connected..." Nick said annoyed.

"What? How?"

He handed her Mandy's report. "We found a fingerprint that matches one of the prints you lifted off in Hendriks' house."

"Oh right, I remember that print. It was on one of the used syringes lying next to our dead body," Ray said while reading the report.

"Okay... You and Greg should take some rest. It's only two hours before your shift ends, you can leave early. There's no work left for you at the moment. Where is Greg, anyway?" Catherine wondered.

"I... I think he's taking a break." Nick's discomfort was obvious to Ray and Catherine.

"Is he alright?"

Nick nodded.

"Alright. If you notice him getting worse, let me know." Catherine walked out the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Nick was standing outside the break room, looking in. He was watching Greg, sitting at the table, supporting his head with his arms he propped up on the table and staring at a coffee cup someone seemed to have forgotten there.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Nick walked in with a forced smile on his face, trying to act normal.

Greg's tired eyes briefly met Nick's before they concentrated back at the coffee mug again.

"Look... I'm sorry I startled you. You know I'd never hurt you, right?"

"Of course..." Greg murmured into his arms, looking back at Nick, straightening himself up. "That's not it. I just feel stupid and selfish."

Nick sat down at the table, facing Greg.

Greg had a sad smile on his face when he continued. "I was so wrapped up in my emotions that I forgot that I'm not the only one who had a hard time dealing with it all..."

Nick vigorously shook his head. "No, Greg... It's not your job to think about my feelings, or anybody else's! You need to concentrate on YOUR feelings!"

"He has been in your apartment, too. That must've brought some of the fears back the stalker gave you years ago, didn't it?"

Nick stared at Greg in silent. It did. Greg was right, but he didn't want him to know. He wanted to be strong for him, not burden him with his own pain. For a minute he thought about denying it, but he didn't feel like lying to Greg, either. He also wanted to just let it all out, but he didn't think Greg was the right person to load it up on.

"It's okay, Nick. I can handle it. Talk to me."

"That's... it's ridiculous. I'm fine, you're the one I'm worried about." Nick tried to talk himself out of this unpleasant situation.

"You have all that anger inside you. You need to vent every now and then and I'd rather have you telling me what you're feeling instead of letting it out in a more destructive way."

Greg was right. All that anger was boiling inside Nick for months now and he didn't have a way to let it out. But again, Greg was NOT the person he wanted to vent on! "Greg, please... I'm not angry."

"Sure you are. So am I. This guy turned our lives around in a way we never imagined someone could do. We have every right to be angry!"

As he got off his seat, Nick sighed. "Yes, Greg, I'm angry. Very angry, actually. But the way you looked at me earlier... The fear in your eyes. I can't stand that. I don't want you to be scared of me!"

"Well now you're the one being ridiculous! I'm not scared of you, Nick. I was just... surprised. Now I'm prepared, so come on, let it out." Greg got off his seat, too, moving towards Nick.

"What, do you want me to scream now?" Nick couldn't help but laugh at that idea.

"Oh Nicky. I thought you'd love the idea of letting all your anger and frustration out! I didn't think I would have to help you with it..." Greg turned around and walked up to the desk. He turned to face Nick again, smirked at him, picked up the coffee mug he'd been staring at and threw it against the wall, missing Nick with only a few inches.

As the mug was flying pass Nick, he winced. "What the hell, Greg? Is that your idea of letting out your anger, hitting people with mugs?"

Greg laughed. "Relax. I didn't aim at you! But it felt good, try it!" He took out a mug from a cupboard, throwing it over to Nick who almost dropped it.

Nick stared at him in confusion.

"Come on, do it. You'll feel better! Just think about everything that's happened. Everything that's upset you in the last few weeks! Whenever we're out there doing our job we have to be scared that someone will shoot at us or that a bomb will go off! Even at HOME we have to fear being killed by that psycho! Think about your living room that's been destroyed by the fire!"

Before Greg could even start another sentence, Nick forcefully threw the mug against the wall Greg had been throwing the mug at before.

Greg smiled at Nick. "There you go, don't you feel much be..."

Again Nick didn't give Greg the chance to finish speaking. He took one of the chairs in the room and smashed it against the glass desk, causing it to break.

Greg winced, but with a surprised, not a fearful, look on his face.

"NOW I feel better..." Nick said and left the room.

Greg just stood there, staring at the broken desk with a faint smile on his face as some of his colleagues came to the room, staring in from the outside, wondering what just happened in there. They all wanted to know what happened, but no one had the guts to go in and ask Greg about it. Except for Catherine, who was almost running in there with a shocked face. "What the hell happened in here, Greg? Are you alright?"

Softly smiling at her, Greg's face looked as relaxed as it hadn't for weeks.

* * *

Greg and Nick were both called into Catherine's office. She was furious after Greg explained what had happened in the break room. "What the hell were you guys thinking? Intentionally destroying lab property could get you fired!"

"Catherine, I'm sorry for what happened, but it's just two mugs and a desk. I'll pay for it." Greg said with a soft smile on his face.

This smile really irritated Catherine. All the time Greg seemed to be jumpy and unbalanced, but now he looked almost like he was at peace. "Greg, are you sure you're alright? You're acting weird..." Her angry tone quickly changed into a more softer, caring one.

Greg laughed. "I am great! I probably should've done that somewhere else, but it helped. I feel much better now that I've let my feelings out..."

Still irritated and not believing what he said, Catherine looked over to Nick who was sitting next to Greg in silence the whole time. "And you? Are you gonna be alright?"

Looking a bit mentally absent, Nick just nodded.

"I worry about you two. I don't believe you. You both don't look like you're okay. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"You could let us work on the case." Nick finally said, looking up to her.

"No. Actually, I'm thinking about suspending you both for what you just did. I think it's best if you stay away from the lab for a few days..."

"You can't do that!" Nick replied in anger.

"It's okay, Nick." Greg looked at him, giving him a soothing smile. "She's right. We could use some distance from the lab."

Nick looked surprised at Greg. "But..." Greg always wanted to keep working, to keep himself distracted and because he wanted to help his colleagues. Why the sudden change of mind?

Catherine sighed. "You'll check into a hotel room for three days, alright? If you want to, you can come back to work in three days. But I advise you to stay away from the lab for a whole week."

* * *

Since Greg didn't have time to pick his car up already, he took a ride with Nick to the hotel room.

"Come on, Nick, we should take some rest." Greg said while getting his stuff into his room.


	6. Chapter 6

Catherine, Ray and Sara kept working on the case that kept the whole lab pulling overtime. All three didn't take much breaks, they usually went home to take a shower and sleep for a few hours and then came back to work. They even had CSIs from both the swing shift and day shift help them.

The case was one of the most confusing they ever had to deal with. The fact that two of their CSIs were emotionally involved, no, dragged into this, didn't make it any easier.

The whole lab felt the pressure they were under. The earlier they got a break in the case the better was the chance no police officers or CSIs had to get hurt by the guy responsible for all of it.

"Okay... Officer Richards. She was dressed up to look like a prostitute. Shot with Nick's gun," Catherine said, putting pictures of the body on the table. "Hendriks. Apparent suicide. Did you find anything to back up your murder theory, Ray?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. But get this. I just got a call from Brass. They found Kenny Smith, he robbed the deli from Greg and Nick's case. They found a fingerprint matching one of the prints we found in Hendriks house. He identified Hendriks as his partner in the robbery."

"And the fingerprint in the deli? Does it belong to Hendriks?"

"It does. The deli owner's description of one of the robbers matches Hendriks. He was at that deli."

"So he robs a deli and kills himself hours later? Why?" Sara chimed in.

"The deli owner also said he took more than just the money." Ray gave them a serious look.

"What did he take?" Catherine asked curiously.

"Well let's just say he just needs a few more things and then he can build one of the bombs we dealt with the last weeks."

Sara looked surprised. "So he IS our guy after all?"

Again Ray shook his head. "I don't think so. I don't think Hendriks was able to plan all this attacks by his own. He must have had at least an accomplice. But I think he was used by our guy... He probably lured him with drugs. He promised to keep the heroin flowing and he probably would've done everything, from stealing all you need to build a bomb to shooting an Officer."

"So you do think he killed Officer Richards?" Catherine asked, taking a look at the autopsy pictures.

"His prints were on the gun, after all." When Ray finished talking, a tired looking Bobby walked in the room.

"Hey guys. Your suicide victim, Hendriks? He was shot with the gun you found at the scene." He put his report on the desk. "I couldn't connect the gun with any other gunshot wounds in the data base, it's probably the first time someone got shot with it."

"Thanks Bobby." Sara took a look at the report. "It was registered to Hendriks. Backs up the suicide theory."

"But it doesn't confirm it," Ray responded.

Sara gave him a sarcastic smile she was known for. "Ray, there's NOTHING pointing to a murder, why can't you accept what we have here?"

"Because we don't have anything but a theory! We can't confirm this being a suicide and with all that's happened we have to be careful!"

"Careful, yes, but not paranoid." Her sarcastic tone slowly turned into an aggressiveness.

"I'm not being paranoid, Sara. I just want to take EVERY possibility into account! We can't make any mistakes on this one."

"Okay, guys. Calm down. Both of you. We're all tired, let's not lose our focus." Catherine intervened. They all were on the edge, but Catherine had to keep them focused, as hard as it was for her to stay focused.

They both apologized. They were tired and felt the emotional stress being too much on them, but they had to keep going. Nick and Greg had been absent for two days now. Catherine told them they were suspended for three days but she wants them to take a whole week off. Although she knew they'd probably come back the fourth day, she regretted suggesting to stay away for a whole week. They could really use some help as this case wasn't the only one they had to deal with.

Catherine rubbed her eyes. "It's too much. We can't go on like this. We need a break..."

"Why don't you go home and take some rest. Real rest, I mean. We'll be fine. We'll send Hodges out in the field for any new case, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And we'll keep on working on this case," Sara suggested, trying to help Catherine, who just shook her head.

"No, I can't do that. But thank you..." Catherine said softly.

* * *

Brass knocked at Catherine's door as he entered her office. "I just talked to Hendriks' mother. She said he called her minutes before he died. She didn't understand it back then, but now she knows he wanted to say good-bye. He apologized for not being the kind of son she wanted him to be and that he never wanted to hurt anyone. He didn't say what he meant by that and she didn't ask, but I'm thinking he confessed the murder of Officer Richards to her, don't you think?"

Catherine nodded tiredly. "At least we now know he really did kill himself... Doesn't really help us find the guy we're actually looking for..." Despair could be heard in her voice.

"Catherine, we're all tired. But we found out who killed Officer Richards. That's good news. Not much, but it means enough to her family. We can be proud of ourselves." Brass smiled at her.

Catherine was surprised by his soft tone. He usually wasn't the kind to try and cheer someone up. He was a sensitive guy, but he wasn't good at showing it. Or he didn't want to show it.

"Thanks, Jim." She returned the smile. "It's good but... Not good enough. We need to find him before he can do any more harm. He's responsible for many officer's death, not Hendriks. He was just a puppet doing his dirty work.

As Brass sat down opposite Catherine, Ray entered. "Okay, so I looked a little into Hendriks' personal live. Since he's the only lead we have that could bring us closer to our mystery guy, I thought it was worth a shot." He sat down next to Brass.

"Please tell me you found anything..." Catherine said exhausted.

"Actually I did. The only people Hendriks seemed to have contact with were his mother, but only through phone calls. She lives in Phoenix, Kenny Smith, the guy he robbed the deli with and his therapist."

"He had a therapist?" Brass asked surprised.

Ray nodded. "Since the mother and Smith are probably not who we're looking for, we might want to look into the therapist. His name is Dr. Stanley Pierce. He has a practice in Spring Valley and has a lot of drug addicts as his clients. He may not be our guy, but he may know who else Hendriks had contact with."

Catherine had to fight back the tears of joy trying to fall down her cheeks. They had been working non-stop for days and didn't have the slightest lead, and now this! This was really a big step forward, she hoped. "Alright... Let's pay Dr. Pierce a visit."


	7. Chapter 7

Sara and Brass entered Dr. Pierce's practice. It was a neat, bright place and the only person present was the receptionist.

"Hello. Dr. Pierce won't see any Patients today but you can make an appointment if you wish," she said in a friendly voice, smiling at the two.

"Actually, we're not here to make an appointment, we really need to talk to Dr. Pierce." Brass said, flashing his badge at her.

"Oh god..." the receptionist had tears in her eyes. "...Is he dead?"

Brass and Sara looked at each other confused. "We hope not..." Sara said, handing the receptionist a handkerchief. "Why would you think that?"

Taking the handkerchief, she explained. "He didn't come to work yesterday. He didn't call me, so I tried to call him. But he didn't answer the phone. It's not the first time this happened so I didn't call the police... But he didn't show up today, either, so I expected you came because you found his body..."

Sara shook her head confused. "No, we didn't find him. We're looking for him."

"Well... why? Is he in trouble?"

"One of his patients died. Joel Hendriks." Brass handed her a picture of Hendriks.

"Oh no... That's too bad. He was such a nice guy and on his way to recover!"

Again, Brass and Sara exchanged a confused look.

"Recovery?" Sara asked, "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Now that you mention it... It's been a few weeks. The last time I saw him he looked great. I figured he didn't need the therapy anymore because he was healed.

"Healed?" Sara asked her.

"Well... Yes. Dr. Pierce can heal drug addictions. He's a great therapist."

"Yeah, really..." Brass said, rolling his eyes. "We need to contact him. Where does he live?"

* * *

Ray and Sara accompanied Brass to Dr. Pierce's house. They considered the possibility that he was the man terrorizing the police for months now, so they were extra precautious. They all had drawn their weapons and stayed close behind the police officers entering the house. After ringing the door bell, no one answered, but they could hear noise coming from the house. Without hesitation they ran down the door and stormed the house.

All their hearts were racing, but Ray was more nervous than the rest of them. Not only was he not as experienced in these kinds of situations as Brass and Sara were, but he was also still a little traumatized from when he had to shoot a suspect. Not only was he afraid of having to use his gun again, but he also was scared that anyone of his colleagues could get hurt. He had to stay focused, so he tried not to think about his fears. But they kept crawling up on him, which only made him worry more.

Sara, on the other hand, was focused. She had these fears, too, especially since everything that's happened, but she's been in these kinds of situations several times to know how to react. She was sure she would do anything to protect her colleagues.

And now has the time come to prove it once again, she thought.

As they entered, they found Dr. Pierce lying on the floor and someone trying to flee the scene through a window in the kitchen.

Ray was rushing to help Dr. Pierce. He was bleeding on the head and seemed to be unconscious. Sara, Brass and two officers tried to catch the stranger fleeing out the window.

"Dr. Pierce, can you tell me what happened?" Ray asked as he found the Doctor coming out of his unconsciousness.

"He attacked me..." the Doctor replied weakly.

"Alright, don't move. You need to get to a hospital." Ray checked the wound but couldn't do much here. He kept talking to the doctor to calm him and waited with him on the ambulance one of the officers called.

Meanwhile, Sara and Brass went on to pursue the suspect. He was running through the back yard to the streets with the two officers, Sara and Brass following him and screaming "Stop!" at him.

After running several minutes, he hid in a backstreet alley. There was no way out but where he came from, and the officers made sure he wouldn't get a chance to run past them.

"Put your hands up and come out, it's over!" Brass said, pointing his gun in the direction the suspect was hiding. He couldn't see him, but knew he was there somewhere.

Slowly two hands were rising from behind a garbage bin. "Okay, please don't shoot..." the man said, slowly walking to the police officers.

Relieve was shown on Brass' face. "Alright, let's book this guy."

* * *

Ray was sitting in the waiting room of Desert Palms hospital. When the attending doctor went up to him he stood up. "How is he? Can I talk to him?"

"Dr. Pierce has a mild concussion and a graze wound on his arm, but he'll be fine. He's up now so you can ask him questions. But he needs some rest, make it quick."

Ray nodded and went up to Dr. Pierce's room with some pictures and files in his hands.

"Dr. Pierce? Hello. I need to ask you some questions about what happened."

"Sure, come in. I remember you... You saved me."

Ray smiled. "Well, it's a good thing we came in time. Can you tell me what happened?"

Dr. Pierce slowly sat up. "Well... Two days ago, one of my patients payed me a visit at home." He shook his head. "It's not something I do normally, he just came. I don't even know where he got my address from. I was really surprised to see one of my patients at my doorstep, but I opened up. It's not like they're all dangerous... At least I thought he wasn't. He pushed me back inside and closed the door. He... threatened me with a gun..."

"When did he shoot you?" Ray asked, pointing at Dr. Pierce's arm.

"Yesterday. I tried to leave when he was in the bathroom... But he heard me and shot me. I didn't try to leave again, I just hoped he'd let me go..."

"Do you know what he wanted?"

"I think he was just frustrated with his condition. He didn't make any progress in therapy, he couldn't stay off the drugs. I advised him to do group therapy, that was the last time I saw him in my practice. I guess he didn't like my advise so he thought he could feel better by doing... this."

Ray just nodded. He didn't really understand why a drug addict would do something like taking his therapist hostage because the therapy didn't work, but he figured stranger things have happened. "How did you get that wound on your head?"

"Well... A few minutes before you came he hit me," Dr. Pierce said, touching his head.

"Why? Did you have an argument with him?"

"Not exactly. I tried to talk him into letting me go. I told him that someone would come looking for me soon and that he'd better get out there quick, you know? I think he got scared and therefore hit me to shut me up..."

"And then?"

"I don't remember. I think I blacked out. The next thing I know is seeing your face." He smiled gratefully at Ray.

"Alright, Dr. Pierce. Thank you. Get some rest," Ray said, smiling back at him.

"Thank you Dr. Langston," Pierce said, closing his weak eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

"So he forced him to do that?" Sara said amused.

"Forced him to do what?" Ray asked as he entered the break room, fixing himself a cup of coffee.

"Gerarld Jobbs says he was forced by Dr. Pierce to hurt him," Sara explained, almost laughing at the idea.

"That's what he said," Brass answered, sipping on his coffee. "Dr. Pierce lured him in his home, claiming he has a remedy for his addiction. When he arrived he threatened him with a gun, telling him to shoot him and hit him in the head."

"Right... and then he hung around for two days for what?" Sara wondered, still not believing this accusations. "Sounds more like a suspect trying to get the out of jail card by accusing his victim... Not the first time we heard something like that, Jim."

"Well, do we know he was in that house two days ago? If he's not lying he might've entered the house today, maybe hours, even minutes, before we arrived," Ray said, trying to convince Sara.

"You believe that, Ray?" Sara got up and got herself a cup of tea. "How do you force someone to shoot and hit you? That's ridiculous."

"There are several ways to control someone like that, Sara. Threatening him, talking him into it, bribing him with drugs. There's a lot of possibilities we should consider."

"You think this guy's the one we've been looking for?" Brass asked, looking up from his coffee mug.

"Well there was just something weird about him. I can't quite put my finger on it. And he claims to be able to heal drug addiction. We all know you can only learn to live with it, it's a fight everyday. But he claims he can heal them. That alone makes him suspicious in my book. Let's find out if our suspect has an alibi for the last two days, alright?"

Sara rolled her eyes but finally acknowledged the theory. "Alright, let's see if we can find anything to back up your theory."

* * *

Day four has arrived. Nick and Greg were now officially allowed back in the lab. They stayed away from it for three days and now they had to decide whether or not they wanted to go back to work already.

Greg was about to knock at Nick's door when it opened. "Oh, hey Nick. You're ready?"

Nick was already dressed for work and had a surprised look on his face. "Are you sure you want to go back to work already? You could take another few days off."

Greg smiled at him. "I've considered it, but I'd feel uncomfortable staying at home when everyone else is taking overtime. Besides, I don't have a home, so there's no reason to stay at the hotel room."

Nick had to roll his eyes as he didn't find this joke very funny. "I understand that. But I told you, you should think about yourself for now, not about anyone else! We'll be okay at the lab without you."

"While I appreciate your concern and your lack of appreciation of my work, I already made up my mind. I want to go to work today! I'm in a good mood, don't ruin it!" he said smiling, making his way down the corridor.

Nick sighed. "You're like a really annoying kid sometimes, you know that?"

"I do," Greg said with an upbeat voice, turning his head around to Nick to give him a big smile.

* * *

Nick was walking up and down in Catherine's office while Greg was just sitting there reading the newspaper while the two were waiting for their boss.

When Catherine arrived a few minutes later she was surprised but happy to see her two young colleagues. "Nick, Greg. Good to see you two." She smiled at them, sitting down in her chair. "So you two decided to come back to work already. Did you calm down and find a better way of dealing with recent events?"

They both nodded.

"I'm fine, I'm happy to get back to work and I'm dealing with it," Greg stated optimistically.

"Yeah, me too. I'm fine." Nick said, looking at Greg.

"Alright, then. Your help is appreciated and much needed. Nick, I've got two dead bodies in North Vegas for you. Detective Vartann is waiting for you. Greg, you've got a possibly gang-related shooting, no dead bodies, but some injured. Officers are already at the scene." as she stood up, she handed them both some files and headed for the door.

"Wait, Catherine. How's the case going on?" Nick asked curious.

She sighed. "You know I'm not allowed to talk in details, but we hope we've got a lead. You're the first ones to know when we find this guy."

* * *

When Greg came back from his crime scene, the CSIs all gathered in the break room, trying to relax for a few minutes before they have to get back to work.

"Hey guys." Greg smiled at them and sat down next to Sara.

"So how was your case? Nick solved his in 30 minutes," Sara said with a grin on her face.

"I didn't... exactly solve it. The suspect confessed." Nick laughed. "That's a huge difference."

"Well congratulations, then. My case is pretty obvious, too. Most of my victims are also suspects, I'll just have to find all their accomplices. I collected all the evidence I could find so it's pretty much up to our lab rats now."

They all couldn't help but hear that Greg seemed to be in a good mood. Nick didn't seem to be in a bad mood, either, but Greg seemed really happy. They all couldn't remember the last time they saw him like this. Staying away from the lab probably helped him a lot. He needed some space to figure things out, a little time for himself. That's what made the big change, they thought.

"It's really nice seeing you happy again, Greg."

"Thanks, Sara..." he said with an almost sheepish smile.

They chatted for almost 15 minutes, almost forgetting about going back to work.

"Oh, time goes by fast... Sara, we should hurry, we need to talk to Pierce," Ray said while he was looking at his watch.

"Right. See you later, guys!" The two stormed off.

"I'd better see if my results are ready." Greg went out.

Now it was only Catherine and Nick in the break room. Both of them watched Greg walk out the room.

"So you think he's really as happy as he wants us to believe he is?" Catherine wondered.

"I hope so. I think he's finally dealing with it."

"Did you talk with him about it?"

"No. I tried, but he said he'd rather not talk about it all the time so we just enjoyed the free time. He never had a panic attack or something like that and I don't think he cried even once in this three days." Nick brushed over his head.

"Well lets hope that's a good sign and he's just not only trying to convince himself nothing happened..." Catherine was still concerned about her youngest team member, but she also realized there was not much she could to at the moment.

* * *

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Sara's anger was obvious when she was told that Dr. Pierce has checked himself out of the hospital. Ray didn't understand it, either.

"I'm sorry, but he insisted on leaving. He only had a mild concussion so Dr. Friedman signed his release form," the nurse said while taking care of a patient.

"I don't believe it," Sara said irritated, "Well, lets pay him a visit at home, then..."

* * *

"Dr. Pierce! It's Ray Langston from the crime lab, we need to ask you some more questions!" Ray knocked at the door. No one answered.

Sara took a look through the window. "Uhm Ray... It's empty."

"I figured he wasn't home, since he didn't answer the door." Ray usually wasn't that sarcastic, but after hours of sleep deprivation he tends to be a little ironic and sarcastic.

"No, I mean... The house is empty! Take a look!"

Looking through the window, he couldn't believe his eyes. The furniture was gone! And then it hit him. "He called me Dr. Langston..."

"Come again?" Sara was confused.

"He... called me Dr. Langston... at the hospital. I don't think I ever introduced myself to him... How did he know my name?"

Sara's confused look turned into a shocked face when she realized what Ray was implying. "You're thinking he's... the bomber? The guy we've been looking for?"

"And I've helped him! Comforted him when we were waiting for the ambulance. Damn it!"


	9. Chapter 9

Back at the lab they all gathered to discuss the case, especially Dr. Pierce's possible involvement.

"His home was empty when we arrived... He called Ray "Dr. Langston" but he never introduced himself to him. He knows Hendriks, who shot Officer Richards with Nick's gun... We really need to look into him!" Sara said in excitement. She really hoped they were onto the man who terrorized the police for weeks.

"You guys really think this is the terrorist we're looking for?" Catherine looked at Ray. He didn't have the excitement in his eyes like Sara did. He just sat there, looking lost in his thoughts and a little angry. "Ray?"

"It's him. I'm sure it's him. I think Gerald Jobbs really was set up. He was invited into Pierce's home on the day we found him. He somehow made Jobbs shoot him, hit him and when we arrived he left. It was all part of his plan! He probably knew we were onto him and made up this plan to get away! And we bought it!" As his anger got the best of him, Ray threw his fist on the table, making a loud noise, causing the people outside the room to stop and stare through the door.

Nick was one of the people standing outside the room. When he saw Ray being upset he went in to check on his friend. "Is everything alright in here?"

They all sat in silence for a second.

"Everything's fine, Nick. Thank you." Catherine smiled at him, insinuating to him to leave.

Nick nodded. "Alright..." He turned around and left.

* * *

On his way out, Nick bumped into Greg. "Oh, sorry, Nick!"

Nick kept staring into the room his colleagues were discussing the case the whole lab wanted to see solved and didn't even pay any attention to Greg.

"Nick, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." he said, without looking at Greg.

"Are you sure?" Greg looked in the direction Nick was staring at. "Oh, are they discussing the case?"

Nick nodded. "It bothers me that I'm not even allowed to get a heads up about it!"

"Why do you need that? Once they solved it they'll tell us, but until then there's nothing we can do, anyway."

Nick sighed. "I know. And that's what bothers me in the first place! I won't help keep that son of a bitch off the streets! I can't just sit around doing nothing while he's still out there."

"Well then how about you help me with my case?" Greg smiled at Nick, holding the case files out to him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I know. But I could really use some help."

"Alright..." He grabbed the case files and followed Greg.

* * *

Sara and Brass went to Dr. Pierce's receptionist. She lived in a small apartment near the strip.

Brass knocked on the door. "Ms. Alvarez, LVPD, we need to ask you some more questions about your boss, please open the door."

"Maybe she went out," Sara said, taking a look around the hallway.

"Wait. Do you smell that, too?" Brass asked.

"Smoke?"

When they kicked in the door, they found something burning in the living room and Ms. Alvarez lying in her bed.

"Ms. Alvarez?" Brass walked up to her, trying to feel her pulse. "She's dead."

"I wonder what she tried to burn here?" Sara held up a bowl with burned papers in it. "Does she have any injuries?"

Brass shook his head. "There's empty pill boxes next to her. Looks like a suicide."

* * *

Nick and Greg were still working on the gang-related shoot out. At first it looked like all of the victims survived, but one dead gang member was found several miles away from the scene, hours later. David was examining the body, handing bullets and everything else he found in or at the body to the two CSIs. "The gunshot wound is the cause of death, no surprise here," David said, pointing to two bullet holes in the body. "One hit his torso, he probably would've survived this one. But the other one went through his leg, severing an artery. If he'd gotten immediate help he might've survived this one, too. Well, one gang banger less on the streets to worry about..."

"Thanks, David," Nick replied, heading for the exit.

"Oh wait, guys, there's something I wanted to show you..."

"Yeah?" He turned around again.

At the same moment, Doc Robbins entered, rolling Ms. Alvarez' body into the room, followed by Catherine and Ray.

"Guys, I'm sorry but I need you to leave the room..." she said to Nick and Greg.

"Why?" Nick asked surprised.

"You know why... She's connected to our case..."

"So?"

"Nick, I hate this as much as you do, but when we find this guy... I don't want anyone having a reason to doubt our investigation. You're too involved in all of this, you can't be in the room when she's being examined... I'm sorry."

Nick rolled his eyes. "What, you think we're going to tamper with evidence just because this jerk attacked us?"

"Come on, Nick... Let's go, we need to bring this to Bobby," Greg said, trying to push Nick to the exit.

"Nicky, you know I don't think that. But you also know how these things work. The defense attorney will try everything to win the case. And now, please step out..." Catherine held the door open for Nick and Greg. If she was able to, she'd let them help with the case. But they both were personally too involved to guarantee their objectivity. She was experienced enough to know that a defense attorney would do anything to get his client out of jail, she knew it would look bad in court if Greg or Nick worked on the case.

"Fine!" Nick said irritated and shook his head when he left the room.

"I'm sorry, Catherine..." Greg apologized for his colleague.

* * *

"She did commit suicide." Doc Robbins stitched Ms. Alvarez up again.

Ray shook his head. "But why? This can't be a coincidence."

"I can't tell you the "why", I can only tell you the "how", but... I don't think it's a coincidence, either.

"Yeah, well, maybe the burned paper will tell us the "why"." Ray walked out.

* * *

"Hey Nick!" Greg ran up to Nick, who was walking down the corridor. "Where have you been? I thought we wanted to go see David together."

Nick avoided answering his whereabouts. "What is it he wanted to show us earlier?" He kept walking down the corridor.

Greg looked surprised at Nick and walked with him. Why didn't he tell him where he was? "...Uhm..." He lost his focus for a second. "Yeah, right... Take a look at this!" Greg handed him a picture of the dead man's body.

"What exactly am I supposed to look at?"

"Here!" Greg pointed on the left calf. "Do you see that? He had a tattoo that was removed."

Nick had a questioning look on his face.

Greg rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. "It was a gang tattoo! He wanted out!"

"So?" Nick asked.

Greg could see Nick's lack of interest in the case. "What's wrong, Nick? I thought you wanted to help me with this case."

"Am I not helping, Greg?" he said sarcastically. He finally reached his office. The one Catherine gave him a few years ago, the one he decided to share with his colleagues. He sat down at his desk.

"Is this about what happened with Catherine earlier... Or is there more to it?"

"I'm fine, alright? I'm just a little tired."

"Come on, Nick, I can see that you're not alright. Talk to me."

Nick laughed and rubbed his eyes. "For weeks I could see that you were not alright and you didn't want to talk. I respected that. And now you want me to cry on your shoulder because I'm a bit upset?" He didn't want to be that harsh to Greg. He didn't even mean what he was saying. But Nick was tired, frustrated and stressed out. He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"No." Greg stopped him. "It's okay..." You could see in his eyes that Greg was hurt by what Nick said because it was true. Well, not all of it. Nick didn't really respect that Greg didn't want to talk to him. He pushed him to talking every once in a while. But the rest, Greg thought, was true.

"You should take a break. I can handle the case alone." Greg smiled at Nick and headed for the door.

"Don't patronize me!" Nick yelled at Greg.

Greg stared at Nick. What was that? Where did that came from? What did he do wrong? "I... I'm sorry, Nick. I didn't mean to..." He was confused. What was he apologizing for? Should he have apologized? Greg was shaking. After all that happened in the past months, it didn't take much to make him feel uncomfortable.

Nick released a deep sigh and stood up. "I apologize, okay?" he said rather unconvincing.  
Greg nodded. His apprehension was clearly visible.

"I... Please don't look at me like that! I don't know why I said that, I really didn't mean any of it!" Nick was ashamed for what just happened.

Greg shook his head. "No, it's okay, really..." He tried to force a smile. "I should get back to work. You... you can decide whether or not you want to be part of this investigation." Greg left the room hastily.

"No, wait..." Nick tried to keep Greg from leaving, but he was already gone. "Damn it..." he whispered to himself.


	10. Chapter 10

Sara was standing at the light table with a piece of paper in her hand. She managed to reconstruct the burnt paper she found at Ms. Alvarez' apartment.

"Please tell me you got something." Catherine walked in, all stressed out.

"Actually I do." Sara handed her the paper. "It wasn't a suicide!"

Catherine looked surprised. She didn't see that one coming! "But Doc Robbins confirmed it."

"Well he confirms she swallowed that pills and died from it, but who says she wanted to die? The paper is a page from her diary. Ray found the diary under her mattress. These are the missing pages! And it says she was planning to tell the police everything she knew about her boss!" Sara was getting excited again.

"And what did she know?"

"...Well, we don't know that. Yet. These pages only say she knows something. We'll get him, Catherine. I know it."

* * *

After their little fight, Greg decided to avoid Nick for a while. He wasn't even sure he wanted Nick to help him on his case anymore. He only asked him for help because Nick didn't have anything else to do, he thought. But he knew that wasn't the only reason. He couldn't even remember why he asked him in the first place. He could've handled the case alone, anyways, he was sure. And now he was alone with the case again and couldn't concentrate all that much because he kept thinking about Nick. What was wrong with him? Why did he yell at him? And what could he do to make him feel better? Where does his anger and frustration come from, anyway? This was not the first case Nick couldn't work on. Greg didn't really care that he was not allowed on the case, so why did it bother Nick so much?

Ray cleared his throat, "Can I come in?"

Greg smiled at him. "Sure."

Ray entered the work room. "Where's Nick?"

Greg smiled nervously. "I'm not sure... I think he's off the case, maybe he went home."

"You don't know?" Ray asked in surprise. "Why is he off the case? ...It's not connected to ours, is it?"

"No, don't worry. I'm still working on it." He smirked. "Nick just... decided not to."

Ray took a seat next to him. "What happened?"

Greg sighed. "I have no idea... He just freaked."

"What do you mean with "freaked", Greg?" he asked.

"Well, you've seen him at the morgue. He was furious that we had to leave! I told him to meet me at the morgue an hour later because David had something to show us. He didn't show up, I think he was still upset. When I later found him and told him about what it was David wanted to show us, he didn't even care."

Ray put down his glasses. "And then?"

"Well..." Greg now had a painful look on his face. "I asked him about it, why he didn't show any interest in the case and, well, one thing lead to another and we had an argument... I tried to diffuse the situation and told him he could take a break and let me handle the case. And he freaked again," he sighed, "I guess I made it pretty clear that I don't want him to help me anymore."

"I think he's just stressed out and tired. We all are. Don't worry about it," Ray said with tired eyes.

"Should I give him some space or reach out to him?" Greg rubbed his neck. "God, I don't know how to help him."

Ray smiled. "Not too long ago I had a similar conversation with Nick about you. You've been in his position. What did you wish Nick did?"

* * *

Greg had no idea what he wanted Nick to do when he was in the same situation. Part of him wanted to be alone, but another part of him was longing for comfort. He had no clue what to do. But since he worried about Nick and didn't see him for three hours now, he decided to find him and talk to him. Or not. He wasn't sure what he'd do once he found Nick, but he thought it was a good idea to look for him.

Nick wasn't in his office. Since that was where he saw him when they had a fight, this was the first room he looked for him.

"Hey, did you see Nick?" Greg asked Henry while walking past him.

"Uhm... I think he's in the break room," a busy Henry said while walking by.

Heading to the break room, Greg kept going through empty phrases he might use while being there for Nick. He hated every single one that came to mind. It was clichés people say to you to comfort you when they don't really know you. Like what Ecklie said to Greg after the lab explosion years ago. Or what the undersheriff said to him after he ran over Demetrius James. Well, at least before he blamed him for causing the lab trouble because of it. And way before he was responsible for Warrick's death.

Warrick. That's what Nick needed now, Greg thought. But there was no way Greg could raise the dead for him. To even think about it made him roll his eyes in his mind. What was he thinking? _Stay realistic_, he thought.

Arriving at the break room, his heart started racing. Why was he getting so nervous? Was he scared of Nick? No, that's not it. He was just scared he'd disappoint him. He wanted to be there for him, but what if he really didn't want him to be there for him? What if Nick was actually angry with Greg? After all, Greg thought, it was his fault Nick was not allowed to work the case. _No, don't think that! You've blamed yourself for these events for weeks now, and you KNOW you're not responsible!,_ he kept telling himself. He didn't believe it, but he tried to convince himself. It didn't work. Then how could he convince Nick, that it's not his fault, nor Nick's, that that's just the way life goes sometimes?

He was now standing in the door, his mind wandering from one thought to another. And then he realized. Nick wasn't here! "Hodges. Have you seen Nick?"

Hodges was drinking coffee. His first coffee break after 6 hours of work. Everyone at the lab was busy. Only Nick and Greg seemed to be having way too much time on their hands since they were not allowed to work the most important case.

"He was here ten minutes ago. He said something about DNA that needed processing and went off." Hodges answered while working on a Sudoku.

"Thanks." Greg went off.

* * *

Greg hurried to the DNA lab. Wait, what's the hurry? He didn't have a clue what to say to Nick and yet he was rushing to him? _What's that all about_, he thought. He reached the DNA lab. _Great, Julian's here! _This man was taking coffee break after coffee break, he was actually working BETWEEN coffee breaks, not the other way around, but NOW he was working. _Just my luck_, Greg thought.

Greg took a deep breath, cleared his throat and went in. His heart was still racing, but he tried to ignore it. "Hey guys," he said, trying to act normal.

"Sanders." Julian rolled his eyes.

"Hi Greg," Nick said shameful.

"You're processing DNA-evidence?" Greg tried to act as natural as possible.

"Yup. We're kinda busy here, so..." Julian tried to make Greg leave.

Greg raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, Julian, the evidence comes from Greg's case," Nick explained.

Julian rolled his eyes again. "Neat."

Greg smiled and sat down next to Nick. _There, problem solved_, Greg thought.

When Julian saw Greg and Nick smiling at each other, he got off his seat. "Your evidence might take some time and I don't want to be part of this love fest, so..." He left.

"You know..." Nick watched Julian leave. "When I was surprised when you acted a bit aggressive towards him? Now I get it."

They both laughed.

"I mean, I'm this close to kicking his ass," Nick said, still laughing.

"Well, you know that I have your back, right? I could take him!" They joked around for some time.

* * *

They both really needed a laugh. Greg hoped that this was enough to help Nick deal with all his stress better. But he also didn't want to left some things unsaid. "It really sucks that we're not allowed to work that case."

Nick nodded. "Well, we're busy with our case, anyway, so don't sweat it."

Greg gave Nick a smile and a pat on the shoulder when he realized something. _Don't sweat it?_ What's that supposed to mean? For weeks Greg tried to avoid any conflict. He didn't want to upset anybody, and he didn't want to be upset. He was upset the whole time, anyways, so why rub salt into the wound with petty arguments? But now Nick made him feel responsible for everything that's happened. It's not like he needed anyone to feel that way. He felt like this minutes after he left that video rental store after being held hostage for hours. And that feeling never really went away. But why did it hurt so much to hear this from Nick now? He didn't know, he only knew it DID hurt.

"Wait... what do you mean with 'Don't sweat it'?" Greg asked surprised.

"Nothing." Nick smiled at him until he realized what he just said. "I didn't mean it that way. I know it's not your fault. I just meant, well, don't sweat it. It's not the end of the world."

"What's not the end of the world? That we're not allowed to work the case or that I'm the reason it's that way?"

"Greg, come on, you know I don't think it's your fault. And you know you're not responsible, too, right?"

Greg didn't reply. What was he supposed to say? _Yes, of course it's my fault!_ No, he was too ashamed to admit that, which didn't really make any sense. NOTHING made any sense at the moment. "Okay, I'm sorry. Forget what I just said."

"No, Greg..." Nick tried to talk to him about it when a police officer entered the lab.

They both looked surprised at him. The police officers never went into a lab and this guy didn't look familiar.

"Uhm... Can we help you?" Nick asked.

"Is anyone of you Dr. Langston?" the police officer asked.

"No..." Nick and Greg both gave each other a confused look. This police officer was acting strange. "But maybe we can help you?" Nick asked him.

The police officer closed the door. "Yes you can."

"...What are you doing?" Nick was reaching for his gun, but before he got the chance to even touch it, the police officer pointed his gun at him.

"First of all, keep your hands from your guns. Second, sit down! You first!" he said to Greg and pushed him to the other side of the room, forcing him to sit on the ground. "Now you, cowboy." He kept pointing the gun at Nick and took Nick's gun out of the holster. "Now sit down!"

Nick sat down next to Greg. What the hell was going on? Who was that guy? Are they really being taken hostage by a police officer? This HAD to have something to do with the big case the lab is working on, they both thought.

The police officer sat down a few inches next to Greg. He was taking cover behind a table he pushed over. After all, the lab had glass walls in most rooms!

"Do you know Dr. Langston?" the armed man asked.

Greg nodded, Nick answered, "Yes."

"Give him a call to meet you in here."

Nick hesitated to get his cell phone out, but Greg didn't even react to the gunman's demand. He seemed to be in shock. No wonder, being taken hostage once is hard enough, but twice in a few weeks, that's got to be tough!

"I'm not asking again, do it!" the gunman said aggressively. "And don't let him know I'm waiting here for him, you got it?"

"Alright, man, just calm down..." Nick took his cell out and dialed Ray's number.

"_Langston."_

"Hey, Ray. We, uh, need to discuss something about our case. The DNA I collected at your crime scene, you should take a look at it." Nick hoped Langston would get the hint. Of course Nick wasn't at Ray's crime scene, Ray knew he was not supposed to discuss anything about the case with Nick.

"_What are you talking about, Nick?"_ Ray asked confused.

"Okay, I'll wait in the DNA lab for you. See ya." Nick hoped this unusual behavior was enough for Ray to understand that something was wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

"I just got a weird call from Nick. He told me to meet him in the DNA lab to discuss evidence he found at our crime scene." Ray said to Hodges, still confused. He knew it was odd, but he had no idea what it meant.

"Him and Greg were at the lab when I left," Julian said rather emotionless. "They probably want to show you something kinky..." he laughed to himself.

Hodges and Ray looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"I think something might be wrong." Ray worried. "I'll call Brass, just in case..."

* * *

The gunman was nervously seesawing. "What's taking him so long?"

"He was outside the lab when I called, it takes some time for him to come back. Don't worry, he'll come." Nick tried to calm him down.

"He'd better. I don't want your brains to spatter these walls, but I'll do it if I have to," the gunman said jittery.

As the gunman was nervously swinging back and forth, not paying any attention to Nick and Greg, Nick used this opportunity to soothe Greg. "It's gonna be okay, you hear me? We'll get out of here!"

Greg gave Nick an unbelieving smile. "Uh-uh." His hands were shaking. This situation brought all the memories from the time at the video store back up. The fear, the helplessness, the powerlessness, all of it.

"Greg, look at me!" Nick touched Greg's face, causing him too look at him. "You're gonna get through this, alright?"

Greg nodded as he fought back the tears.

"Just look at him, he's not focused... He's nervous. I think he even might be on drugs. It'll be easy to subdue him."

"No, Nick, No!" Greg shook his head vigorously. "He has a gun and we don't! Don't try anything!"

"But..." The terror in Greg's eyes caused Nick to nod, without trying to convince him to let him take his chances. "Alright, I won't," he said, knowing he'd take the next chance to disarm the man, anyway.

* * *

Brass was walking up to Ray who was waiting in front of the break room, having an eye on the DNA lab.

"What's up, Ray? Where's Nick?"

"He's supposed to wait for me at the DNA lab, but I don't see anyone in there." Ray replied.

Brass nodded. "And you're sure something's wrong?"

Ray sighed. "He was acting weird on the phone. And with everything that's happened I didn't want to take any risks.

"Okay, I'll give him a call, see what's going on." Brass dialed Nick's number.

* * *

The gunman startled up by Nick's phone ringing. "What's that?"

"Just my phone..." Nick held it up for him to see.

"Who's calling?" He pointed the gun at Nick, causing Greg to wince.

"Take it easy... I'll get rid of him," Nick assured the gunman.

"No, don't answer it."

* * *

"He's not picking up," Brass said to Ray.

Ray gave him a worried look. "That doesn't sound like Nick. Julian said Greg was with him the last time he saw him, maybe we should try to call him."

* * *

Now Greg's phone was ringing. Both the gunman and him startled up by it.

"What now?" the gunman yelled.

"Calm down, okay? His phone just rang!" Nick tried to soothe the gunman. "He should answer it or else they'll start worrying."

"...Fine! Any wrong word and you're both dead." He pointed the gun at them.

Greg gulped. He was way too nervous to act normal on the phone. "...Hello?"

"_Greg, are you with Nick? He told Ray he's at the DNA lab, but we don't see anyone,"_ Brass asked.

"Yes... I am. We are..." Greg kept looking at the gunman, hoping what he said was okay. He was really scared for his and Nick's life and didn't want to do anything to jeopardize them.

"_If there's someone with you just say 'Okay, bye.' and hang up, you understand?"_

Greg nodded, still looking at the gunman, "Okay, bye..." and hung up.

"Good job. And now we'll just have to wait for Dr. Langston..." The gunman had a scary smile on his face.

Nick still tried to calm Greg down. "You did great. Don't worry..."

"Hey, you." The gunman pointed his gun at Nick. "Come over here."

They both looked surprised at him.

"I don't want you to whisper to each other, forging out plans or something. Come over here." He pointed to his right. Greg and Nick were sitting to his left, but several inches away. He wanted to break them up because he got scared they might try something. "Come on! And crawl, we don't want anyone to see us, remember?"

Nick sighed and crawled to the other side and gave Greg a look to tell him not to worry.

* * *

"What are we supposed to do now?" Ray asked Brass. "Whoever's in there with them is waiting for me to come."

"There's no way I'll let you walk in there, Ray. Let the swat team handle this," Brass replied confident.

Catherine and Sara were running up to them. "What's going on? Where are they?"

"They're at the DNA lab, someone's in there with them. We don't know more, but they asked me to get in there..." Ray explained to his colleagues.

Julian, Hodges and a few other lab rats were standing a few feet away from them. They were all scared for their friends. Well, Julian was mostly nosy, but even he did worry a bit.

"But you're not going in there, Ray!" Catherine exclaimed.

"What if something happens just because I didn't go?" Ray was really worried.

"And what if something happens to you because you did go? Or to all three of you? No, there's no discussion, you won't go in there!" Catherine demanded.

In the meantime, two officers from the swat team went near the DNA lab, trying to get a closer look inside. All they could see was one of Nick's feet behind a desk that had been pushed over.

* * *

"Who's that?" the gunman asked surprised. He could see one of the officers looking in.

Greg and Nick just looked at each other, not sure what to do or say. They were relieved that help was on the way, but scared of how the gunman would react, now that he knew something was up.

"Who did this?" The gunman pointing the gun at Nick, then on Greg, and back at Nick again.

"Easy now..." Nick reached out his hands.

"I want to know who of you sent these people here!" he yelled, making threatening gestures with his gun. Greg tried to cover his head with his hands.

"Dr. Langston probably heard that I was nervous when I was talking to him, it's my fault, I'm sorry!" Nick said to the gunman, looking at Greg.

"Oh yeah? So he won't come?" The gunman had that scary smile on his face again.

Greg and Nick looked at each other. They had no idea what kind of reaction they had to expect of this lunatic.

"Well..." the gunman said, "I guess in this case one of you will have to bring the message to him."


	12. Chapter 12

Half the lab was gathered in front of the break room. From there, they all got a good look at the DNA lab. They were able to look inside, but were not close enough to see the gunman or Nick and Greg. They were all watching from a safe distance what's happening.

The swat team had a good look inside the lab, but they still couldn't see anything but Nick's foot behind a desk. While Brass was talking to his team to decide the next step to get everyone out there safe, they heard a shot.

* * *

Silence. Horrible silence at the lab. It felt like hours, but they just stood there in silence for a few seconds after they heard that shot.

They could see someone's back of the head coming up behind the desk. And going down again. One of the police officers was still able to see the back of the head. "I think I see him, Captain. Do you want me to take him out?"

"No!" Brass exclaimed. "We don't know who that is, don't shoot. You hear me? Don't shoot! Just stay alert."

Again they saw the back of the head coming up, turning around. The person stood up with his hands up.

"It's Nick!" Catherine said relieved.

Nick gave them a sign to hurry inside. He disappeared behind the desk again.

Ray and Catherine were about to run inside when they were stopped by Brass. "No, wait, let my men get inside, first!"

_No, I want to be there for MY men!_, Catherine thought. But she knew it was the right decision Brass was making, so she just stood there and waited. Her heart was beating like crazy. Where was Greg? Why didn't Nick come out? What was going on?

* * *

Three police men entered the DNA lab with their weapons drawn.

"We're here!" Nick said, "We need an ambulance!"

* * *

An ambulance. They could hear that from the outside. They hoped they were okay, but you don't need an ambulance when you're okay.

The officers gave Brass a sign that let him know the room was clear. They were allowed to go inside, and as soon as Catherine knew that she hurried inside.

When she went in, she found Nick and Greg sitting on the ground. Nick was all over Greg, trying to calm him down. But he actually was calm. He didn't need to be calmed down, but Nick didn't realize that.

"Are you okay?" Catherine rushed to them.

Both Nick and Greg nodded and turned their heads to their right.

The gunman was lying there in his own blood.

"What happened?" Catherine asked.

"He shot himself," Nick replied.

Catherine sighed relieved. "Thank god you two are okay..."

* * *

Hodges and Greg were discussing evidence Greg had found at his crime scene. He still had to work on the gang-related shooting and wanted to compare the evidence he found at the scene with evidence he found at the dead body.

"There you are." Nick came in, greeting Hodges with a faint nod. "You disappeared so quick, I thought you went home."

"Why should I go home when I have a case to work on?" Greg asked surprised, almost as if he forgot what just happened an hour earlier.

"Hodges, could you give us a minute?" Nick asked kindly, but determined.

Hodges got off his seat and walked pass Nick and Greg.

"Hodges, wait. I need you to process this now," Greg said, not looking at Nick.

Hodges stopped. He gave them a confused look.

"I just want to talk to you, the evidence can wait another five minutes." Nick indicated Hodges to keep walking. Which he did, but was stopped again by Greg.

"We can talk later, Nick, this evidence really needs to be processed."

It was as if Greg had forgotten the thoughts he had earlier. He was thinking about how he could help Nick, right before he went into the DNA lab, right before the two were threatened by that gunman. Greg didn't want to be comforted by Nick. He didn't want to hear that everything was going to be fine, that they should be glad they survived it. He didn't want to talk about that. He knew he'd have to talk about it with Brass later, to tell him everything that's happened. Again. He already told him right afterwards, but Brass wanted to talk to both of them again later. When they calmed down. Greg thought that it was maybe Nick who needed to be comforted right now. But he was not the right person to give him that comfort. He felt bad about that, but he had no idea how to change it, so he decided to try to avoid that subject with Nick. Or anyone else. Well, except for Brass, but he wouldn't talk to him about it if he didn't have to.

"Fine." Nick walked up to Greg. "Why are you still here?" He sounded rather irritated.

"Excuse me?" Greg asked surprised.

"Catherine told you to get home and yet you're still here working like nothing happened!" Nick didn't care that Hodges was with them, he just needed to confront Greg about it.

Greg, on the other hand, didn't feel too comfortable talking about this with Hodges in the room. They were friends, sure, but he didn't even want to talk with Nick about it. "I'm fine, I don't need to go home. And now I'm busy, can we please talk about this later?"

Hodges acted like he wasn't listening. He just kept processing the evidence. But of course he listened to all of it. He was nosy, after all.

Nick sighed. "Of course you are fine... Everybody's fine!" He left the room, leaving Greg and Hodges with a confused look on their faces.


	13. Chapter 13

THANK YOU, SilverHowler! I had no idea that chapter 13 was missing! It's quite the important chapter but nobody else seemed to have noticed ;)

Tell me about mistakes like that, people! They can happen and it's very unfortunate when they do.

Anyways, here's chapter 13, finally ;) I'm SO sorry I got them mixed up! Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Nearly three hours after the gunman shot a bullet through his own head, Greg got a call from Brass. He wanted to talk to him again about what happened.

Since this hostage situation had to have something to do with the recent events, they handled it like any other case. Brass didn't want to talk to Greg and Nick in his office, he wanted to talk with them in the interrogation room, like he would with other victims, witnesses or suspects.

Greg went into the interrogation room reluctantly. He really didn't want to go through this experience again, but he had no choice. He knocked, opened the door and went in.

"Hey Brass." Greg tried to act normal. He didn't want anyone to worry about him anymore. Even if this incident left some scars behind, Greg didn't want anyone to know.

"Hi Greg. Please, have a seat." Brass stood next to the table.

Greg sat down.

"We'll start in a minute," Brass said, confusing Greg.

Why would they wait? And what was the camera doing in the room? "What's going on?" Greg asked puzzled.

A guy in a suit entered the room. "Mr. Sanders, I'm Casey Keenan, Internal Affairs. Nice to meet you."

Greg shook Keenan's hand, looking confused at Brass. "What does IA have to do with this?" Greg asked.

"Mr. Sanders, this conversation is being filmed, I hope you don't mind," Keenan explained.

"Sure..." Greg had no idea what was going on right now. Internal Affairs was incorporated when they suspected one of the CSIs, lab techs or police officers did something wrong.

"Have you talked to..." Keenan took a look at his files, "Mr. Stokes since the incidence?"

"Yes, I have. Why?" Greg answered.

Keenan wrote something down. "Okay... Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was looking for Nick and went into the DNA lab. After the DNA tech left the room, we got into talking, and a few minutes later this officer was there. He asked for Langston, one of our colleagues."

"What did he want from him?" Keenan asked while taking some notes.

"I... he didn't say. He made Nick call Langston and tell him to meet him at the DNA lab."

"You and Nick Stokes, you're both level three CSIs, right?"

Greg nodded.

"Then how come one single man was able to hold you two hostage in the first place? It's two against one and you couldn't overpower him?" Keenan had a rather judging tone in his voice that upset both Greg and Brass.

"Hey, what are you implying here? How about you try to stay unbiased?" Brass intervened.

"Captain Brass, I know you're his labor union representative, but I ask you to stop intruding."

"I wouldn't have to intrude if you'd stay objective," Brass explained himself.

Keenan didn't pay much attention to Brass, instead he concentrated on Greg. "Please answer the question. How was it possible for him to take two armed CSIs hostage?"

"Because I wasn't armed," Greg said rather emotionless.

Again, Keenan took some notes. "Why?"

Greg looked a little lost to Brass. _Why_. What kind of question is this? "Because I was at the lab the whole day. I only carry my gun at a crime scene when I have to. There's no need to carry it around the lab." After all that happened to him, Greg still didn't like carrying a gun. Maybe even because of what happened. He's been in so many dangerous situations and a gun would never have helped him get out of it, he thought.

Keenan took notes again, then put his pen down and looked at Greg. "There's no need to carry a gun around the lab, right? If you'd have had one today maybe the whole situation would have ended different."

"That's enough!" Brass complained. "He didn't do anything wrong, Keenan, so what's this all about?"

Keenan didn't pay attention to Brass, he kept looking at Greg. "What happened with CSI Stokes' gun?"

"The guy took it from him," Greg answered.

Keenan slightly rolled his eyes. "What happened after Stokes made that phone call?"

Greg explained what happened between the phone call and when the gunman shot himself. Mostly it was just Greg being too scared to move and Nick trying to diffuse the situation. Greg left the part about him being scared out when he told Keenan what happened. No need for him to know that, he thought.

"As you know, the hostage taker was still alive when you were being rescued. He's still alive." Keenan said that as if he thought Greg would think that's a bad thing.

Greg looked surprised. After all, he watched that man shoot his brains out. Apparently, not literally his brains, but he shot himself in the head. Greg's been a CSI for almost six years now and he didn't see many people survive a gunshot wound to the head. It happens every once in a while, but most of them don't make it.

"Disappointed?" Keenan asked provocatively.

"What? No." Greg was confused. Why was Keenan being such a jerk? He should be on Greg's side, or at least not against him. "Why should I be disappointed that a man will live?"

Keenan raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Sanders, are you aware that the hostage taker, his name is Roger Randall, shot himself with your colleague's gun?"

Now Greg understood what was going on. They thought Nick shot the gunman and claimed that he shot himself. But why would Nick do that? He'd be a hero if he shot a hostage taker to save his and Greg's life. Besides, that's not what happened. Greg saw Randall shoot himself. Actually, not really, as he kept his eyes closed the whole time. "I told you, he took the gun from Nick."

"Sure. But why should he take Stokes' gun to shoot him when he brought his own?" Keenan was getting more and more provocative.

"Do I have to answer that?" Greg asked Brass rather amused. He thought this question was ridiculous. How should Greg know what's going on in this lunatics mind?

"Keenan, ask him questions he knows the answer to or we're gone." Brass was getting tired of this game.

"You're not going anywhere. Did you see Randall shoot himself?" Keenan wanted to get the truth out of Greg, no matter what.

"Yes, I saw him point the gun to his head."

"Did you see him pull the trigger?"

Greg tried to explain, "Well, not exactly. I didn't really feel like watching him do that, so I closed my eyes. But I could hear the shot right after."

Keenan made some notes again. "So you're saying you just saw him put the gun to his head, but you didn't actually see what happened afterwards? When did you open your eyes again?"

Greg sighed. "I don't know, a few seconds later, when Nick was trying to feel a pulse on the guy."

"On Randall?"

"Yes, on Randall," Greg added rather annoyed.

"Why are you avoiding saying his name?"

"I'm not." Greg looked a little helpless to Brass. What was this all about? How did Greg get into all of this? And why didn't Brass warn him when he told him to meet him here?

"You see, Mr. Sanders... I've been an IA investigator for over fifteen years now. I can only guess that you were still in college back then. Or high school," Keenan said amused, "And I know a liar when I see one. And you are not telling the truth."

"What? I am! I told you everything I know!"

"You did not. You kept avoiding saying Randall's name, are you feeling guilty? You're telling your story without using any words to describe emotions and feelings, that's typical for someone who's lying. And a few months ago, when Captain Brass here interrogated you about what happened at that video store, you left a few things out," Keenan explained to him.

Greg looked at Brass for a second. How did a guy like Keenan know this? Why did he tell him that?

"Don't worry, Mr. Sanders, Brass didn't betray you, if that's what you're thinking. I watched the interrogation video from that day, it didn't take a rocket scientist to notice that. An IA investigator for a sense for liars was enough." He grinned.

Brass looked at Greg. He had no doubt that he wasn't lying and that Nick didn't shoot Randall, but he also thought the way Greg told them about what happened was weird. And Brass knew Greg, Keenan didn't. Brass knew Greg's way of telling a story, and that's not how he usually did it.

"Greg, is there maybe something you left out and want to add?" Brass asked sensitive.

Greg sighed. "Alright... I didn't say Randall's name because I do feel guilty. Not because he's injured, but because I didn't help Nick. Which is also the reason why I avoided describing my feelings. Because I'm ashamed." Greg didn't look at Brass, Keenan or the camera when he said that. He was just staring at his hands resting on the desk. "I was so scared that I couldn't even move. I was just sitting there, hoping that it was just a bad dream and I'd wake up any second." He laughed humorlessly. "I've been a CSI for almost six years now. I've been trained to stay focused in a situation like that. And I forgot everything." The painful look on his face moved even Keenan. "I let Nick down, I let the whole lab down. And I'm embarrassed because of it."

Keenan cleared his throat. "Mr. Sanders, are you sure Randall killed himself?"

Greg paused. Then he looked at Keenan. "I am," he said with determination in his voice.

Keenan wrote something down again. "Alright. And after all of this, you talked to Stokes. What was it about?"

"He asked me why I was still at work and not at home. I told him why and he left."

"And that's all? You didn't talk about the incident? I assume you were alone?"

"No, actually, Hodges, our trace tech, was in the room. But we didn't discuss the hostage situation," Greg explained.

Keenan nodded while writing something down. "Please don't discuss it now with him, either, until we finished talking to him, okay?"

"Yeah, sure..." Greg nodded.

"Before you go, there's one more thing I'd like to ask..." Keenan said, "Are you aware that Randall really is an officer?"

Greg looked surprised at Keenan. Both him and Nick were sure he was not a real officer. They thought he just dressed up as one. After all, why would a real officer do that?

"You and Stokes, you both went through a lot in the past months. I understand that, I really do. I would understand if Stokes just snapped and shot him. But you have to understand, we want to help him. If he really did shoot him, you don't help him at all by covering for him." Keenan now sounded really understanding. He acted like a jerk at first, but now he seemed almost worried.

"I'm not lying. And I know Nick. He didn't shoot Randall."


	14. Chapter 14

Now it was Nick's turn to go talk to Detective Keenan. He didn't know Keenan would be there, either. Like Greg, he assumed it was just him and Brass.

On his way to the interrogation room, he went pass Greg. He didn't say anything to him, he just looked at him and walked by.

* * *

Nick closed the door behind him. He looked surprised at Keenan, who was still sitting at the desk. "Who's this?" he asked, looking to Brass.

"Nick, this is Casey Keenan. He's from Internal Affairs and wants to ask you some questions about what happened," Brass explained to him.

Nick sat down opposite Keenan. "Why is IA interested in this?"

"Mr. Stokes, I'll just cut to the chase right away. Roger Randall, the man who held you hostage, was shot with your gun."

"My gun?" Nick asked a little surprised.

"Do you care to explain how that happened?"

Nick was confused now. What did that guy think happened? "The first thing he did after he closed the door was take my gun from me. That's how he got it."

"And why do you think he used yours to shoot himself instead of his own?" Keenan asked.

"Keenan, we had that already. Stop asking questions these guys have no answer to," Brass intervened again.

Nick looked at Brass. _Did they ask Greg questions like that?_, he thought.

"Right..." Keenan cleared his throat. "For the time he held you hostage, did he use your gun or his to threaten you?"

Nick thought about it for a while. "I'm not sure."

"You don't know? For over half an hour you did nothing but look at that gun and you can't remember if it was his or yours?" The softness Greg brought out of Keenan seemed to have faded pretty quickly. He knew Greg went through a lot in the last months, but Nick? Sure it wasn't easy for him, either, but Keenan didn't really care. He just wanted to get to the bottom of this. He really believed Nick shot Randall. In his mind, there was no reason to doubt that. Sure, Greg said Nick didn't do it, but he didn't even see Randall pull the trigger. There was just too much pointing to the fact that Nick shot him, with Greg's statement being a bit controversial, since he left out some things at first, and Randall being shot with Nick's gun.

"That was the least of my problems, you know? We were threatened with a gun, I didn't care which one it was. I was just thinking of ways to get out of there." Nick tried to explain himself. He didn't understand why he was in trouble now. He didn't do anything wrong. "Didn't you check Randall for gunshot residue?"

"No. He was instantly brought to a hospital, there was no time to do it. But we will. Back then we didn't know he was shot with your gun. If we would've known, we would've checked you for GSR." Keenan made some notes. "We want to do that test now if you don't mind."

Nick was looking at Brass. "Yeah sure, go ahead."

A CSI from the day shift went in to do the test on Nicks hands. It was negative, they didn't find any GSR on Nick's hands.

"Can I go now?" Nick was about to get up.

"Sit back down. We're not done yet." Keenan kept writing notes. "The test was negative, but that doesn't mean you're cleared."

"...What?" Nick was getting annoyed by this guy.

"You're a CSI. You know how to prevent getting GSR on your hands, that's not enough proof for me. We'll wait for Randall's test."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Why would I want to shoot a guy dressed as a cop?"

"He IS a cop."

"What?"

"Randall. He IS a cop. He's not from your police station, but he's a LVPD cop."

Nick looked surprised. He didn't believe it. This guy looked more like a drug addict than a police officer. Well, being a drug addict didn't rule out being a police officer, but still, he was sure this guy was just dressing up as a police officer. "Do you know why he did this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me." Keenan was looking at Nick. "He had a message for Dr. Langston, right? What was it?"

"Well, he wanted to see him. When he realized that he wouldn't come, he told us to 'send him a message'. Then he shot himself."

"So he didn't give you a message to pass on?"

"No, I think blowing his brains out WAS the message," Nick replied quite sarcastically, but he meant it.

Keenan gave him a frown. "And what do you think that means?"

"How should I know? I'm not even allowed to work on Ray's case."

Keenan could hear the bitterness in Nick's voice. "You're offended by the fact that you're not allowed to work on that case?"

Nick sighed. "I was, but I understand why I can't. It's okay."

"I don't think it is. I think you're still angry." Keenan had a weird grin on his face.

"Well, maybe I am." Nick was getting tired of this conversation. "I can't help my team finding a guy that threatens the whole police department! Of course I'm angry! What's your point?"

Keenan still had that grin on his face. "Do you want to be part of this investigation so bad that you'd shoot a police officer to get involved?"

Nick jumped off his seat. He was furious. "What is this? Why do I have to talk to this clown?"

"Calm down, Nick. Keenan, come on, you don't really think this is a vicious plot to gain some attention. Nick's been a CSI for so many years and never disappointed us!" Brass couldn't comprehend Keenan's accusation, they were beyond ridiculous, he thought.

"Did he help you?" Keenan kept asking these weird questions.

"Who?" Nick asked.

"Sanders. Was he in on your plan or did he just happen to be here and you thought he might get your ass out of the line of fire?"

Nick shook his head while he was laughing humorlessly. "I'll say it just one more time. I didn't shoot Randall. I didn't... plan anything! Greg didn't do anything wrong, either!" He stood up. "I'm done here."

Brass sighed. He feared this would end like that. He knew Nick had a temper when he was in a stressful situation like that. And this guy Keenan was just begging for his temper to show up.

* * *

Greg was sitting outside the interrogation room, waiting for Nick to come out. He was nervously tapping his feet. He could hear Nick's voice getting louder, but he couldn't hear what he was saying. But the fact that Nick was yelling surely wasn't a good sign.

Ray walked up to Greg and sat down next to him. "Are you okay?"

Greg nodded.

"I heard internal affairs are dealing with it. I'm sure everything will turn out just fine." Ray patted Greg on the back.

"They think Nick shot that guy... Who, apparently, really was an officer."

"How did you do in there? I'm sure your point of view will help Nick a lot." Ray was confident in what he just said, but he couldn't know what happened in there a few minutes ago.

"I don't know. I wasn't prepared for this, I did pretty bad. And I don't think I helped Nick much." Greg turned his head to face Langston. He looked at his older colleague with a painful look.

"Well, but we both know Nick didn't do anything wrong. He'll be cleared in no time. There's no evidence to show him in a bad light, just be confident, Greg." He smiled at Greg, patted him on the shoulder and left. After he was gone, Nick came out.

* * *

Nick passed by Greg with his head down low and didn't notice his colleague.

"Nick!" Greg stood up, causing Nick to turn around.

Nick looked tired and exhausted. He felt like he's been in that room for days, but it were only a few minutes. Not even as long as Greg was. But still, it had a toll on him. "Now's not a good time, Greg." He kept walking.

"Wait, Nick. Please."

Nick sighed. NOW Greg wanted to talk, of course. When he wanted to talk to him, Greg didn't care. But now that Nick really didn't feel like talking anymore to anyone, Greg changed his mind. "What is it?" he asked him annoyed.

Nick's harsh tone intimidated Greg. _Why was I even waiting out here for him?_, Greg kept thinking. What did Greg want to talk about, anyway? He couldn't really remember. He wanted to ask how it went, but it was painfully obvious what the answer to that question would be. "Nothing... I just wanted to apologize. For the way I acted earlier and... everything else." Greg looked down. Why was this so hard?

Nick just stood there for a second, not saying a word, keeping his eyes on Greg. Before Greg said these few words, Nick's face was filled with anger. Now he had a soft, almost relaxed face impression. He had a faint smile on his face, nodded and left.

Despite all the action and fuss they experienced that day, they still had a case to work on. What was Roger Randall's involvement in their case? Was there even a connection or was it just a weird coincidence?

* * *

"I went through Dr. Pierces files, but there seem to be a lot missing pages. They're all numbered and several numbers are missing." Sara sat down in Catherine's office.

"Is Ray back from the hospital yet?" Catherine asked.

"He called a few minutes ago. He's on his way back to the lab. Randall's in a coma, but they think he'll wake up in a few days. But get this. His wife was there. Ray said she knew about Randall's drug addiction and wanted him to go to therapy. Guess who his therapist was." Sara had a big grin on her face.

"Dr. Pierce? Now that's interesting. We have our connection. But what's Dr. Pierce's agenda? And why did Randall want to see Ray?" Catherine was confused.

"I don't have an answer to this questions yet, but I'm sure we'll find out soon. We have a lead, and all we gotta do now is follow it."

* * *

Hey guys!

I'm so sorry for being so slow in updating! I'm not sure yet where this story's leading to, but I want to make a really good ending to satisfy you :)

I want to thank you all for reading this and reviewing, it really means a lot to me!

I hope you like what I'm doing so far and like how I write for the characters. Interestingly, although I'm anything but a Ray-fan, I really enjoy writing him. He's a good sidekick-character, but I don't think I could ever do a story evolving around him. But we'll see ;)

The Nick-Greg parts are a little melodramatic sometimes, I'm not sure yet if I like that. How about you guys? Is it too much or just the right amount of drama?

I'll try to update a little quicker now and I hope you enjoyed these two chapters!


	15. Chapter 15

Hi!

The next story is called _"Wanna Play?"_. You can find it on my profile page, but to make it easier for you to keep track here's a link to the story.

**.net/s/6868721/1/Wanna_Play /** (just put the fanfiction-url in front of it, I can't publish it that way, I'm sorry!)

**THANK YOU** for reading and hopefully loving my story. Big Love,

pikapikatchu


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